Deadly Pakistan earthquake creates a mysterious new island

A massive, 7.7 magnitude quake struck south-central Pakistan on Tuesday afternoon local time. 

The USGS warns that there will high casualties and economic losses, requiring international response. Seismologists have also confirmed that the quake raised a new island, about 30-40 feet high, off the coast.

The island is about half a mile off the coast of Gwadar, in the Arabian Sea. Already, reports the International Herald Tribune, crowds have gathered to see the mountainous, rocky island. Some are claiming it is 100 feet long.

On the Gwadar coastline, the quake created a small island about half a mile into the sea near an area called ‘Jhanda’, according to Express News.

The newly appearing island is said to have a mountainous terrain rising up to a hundred feet. A large crowd was seen gathering at the site to see the new island.

It's not unusual for earthquakes of this magnitude to change the coastline, or even deform the shape of the planet. In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile created new coastlines in that country and changed the shape of the Earth enough to shorten our days by a fraction of a second. 

Today in Pakistan, estimates of damages are still coming in, and it may be days before we know the full extent of the losses because the quake struck in many regions that are remote.

Bigfoot footprint found in Ohio backyard (video)

Ashtabula County resident Wendy – she asked to have her last name withheld because she’s not sure she wants to be involved with Bigfoot stories – was doing yard work on Aug. 11 when she noticed a 7.5 inch wide footprint that was an inch and a half deep into the mud.

“I took a picture to show my mother’s husband, who’s a hunter, and he said it wasn’t a human’s,” she said. “I’m not claiming that footprint to be anything. I don’t know what that is.”

Wendy recalls multiple incidents in the past five years in which she and her husband have come across “something not human.” She said she hears knocking sounds on the walls of their house late at night, and she remembers a time when she saw a figure in all black running across the railroad tracks.

“The direction they were going, there were no homes. It would’ve gone out the woods, crossed the tracks, and gone back into the woods,” she said.

Wendy and her husband have also heard loud growls outside. “I never walked backwards so fast to get back in the house. But I couldn’t see, it was so dark back there.” She said the growl was impossible to duplicate and made her husband’s “hair stand up.”

“I didn’t believe in the sasquatch before,” Wendy said. “And in fact I’m still fighting it. But I can’t make sense of that large footprint.”

According to the group Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, Ohio has logged more than 242 sightings since 1974.

100 elk die mysteriously in 24 hours in New Mexico (video)

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are puzzling over the mysterious deaths of more than 100 elk, apparently all within a 24-hour period, in rural New Mexico.

The elk were found Aug. 27 on a 75,000-acre ranch north of the city of Las Vegas.

Livestock deaths, by themselves, are not unusual — there are many things that can fell large animals, including predators, poachers, a natural or man-made toxin, disease, drought, heat, starvation, and even lightning.

But so far wildlife officials have seemingly ruled out most of these possibilities: The elk weren't shot (nor taken from the area), so it was not poachers. Tests have come back negative for anthrax, a bacteria that exists naturally in the region and can kill large animals. There seems to be no evidence of any heavy pesticide use in the area that might have played a role in the die-off.

Though lightning strikes are not uncommon in the Southwest and in New Mexico specifically, killing over 100 animals at one time would be an incredibly rare event. It might be an as-yet unidentified disease, though killing so many at once — and so quickly — would be very unusual. Another possibility is some sort of contamination of the well or water tanks, but so far no toxins have been identified.

Wildlife officials are hopeful that they will be able to identify the cause of death — if for no other reason that it would give peace of mind to ranchers and hunters.

The Evolution of Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps

WASHINGTON — The iconic sea serpents, mermaids and other mythical creatures found on world maps from medieval and Renaissance times splash to life on the pages of a new book.

Chet Van Duzer's "Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps" (British Library, 2013) charts the evolution of the mythical creatures that adorned atlases from the 10th century through the 17th century.

Cartographers used the beastly art to illustrate mysterious, unexplored regions of the globe and the possible dangers of seafaring.

Despite their wild appearance, many of these creatures were based on real animals.

"The creatures look purely fantastic. They all look like they were just made up," Van Duzer, a map historian at the Library of Congress, said here Thursday (Sept. 5) in a talk about his book. "But, in fact, a lot of them come from what were considered, at the time, scientific sources."

Ghost blamed for death of student

BANKURA, 31 AUG: Sensation sparked off leading to pandemonium in Bankura when a ghost was blamed for the death of a girl.

Girl students of the Kenjakura High school have been complaining of ‘ghost’ menace since past few days.

“Nearly six girls last week complained that they have experienced some supernatural activities in the school premises, though we have not paid any heed to it,” said Mrs Rama Mukherjee, headmistress of the school.

She said: “A latrine in the school was abandoned for years and recently we have re-opened it after refurbishing it, which the students surprisingly  said was a den of ‘ghosts’.”

Sulekha Dutta (11), a class VI student of the school fell sick after returning home from school yesterday. Her mother, Mrs Bani Dutta, said: “She complained of chest pain and kept telling that the ‘ghost’ in the school had gripped her.” The girl later was found hanging in her bedroom this morning. Police recovered her body.

The guardians raided the school demanding immediate sealing of the latrine. Mrs Mukherjee said: “They also ransacked the office room.” The school authority sent SOS to police.